The
Golden Eagle was built in 1909 by John Brown & Co on the Clyde for the
General Steam Navigation Company's services on the Thames from Fresh Wharf, next
to London Bridge, down river to Margate and Ramsgate where she can be seen in
the above picture.

Although many excursion paddle steamers were taken over by the Government in the
First World War to be fitted out for a military role, others, particularly some
of the larger ones like the Golden Eagle with their ability to shift
large numbers of people, were called up as troopships. The Golden Eagle
left the Thames on 18th February 1915 for Southampton, amidst a threat of German
submarines about to blockade British ports, where she was inspected by
Government officials and, after a few small alterations had been made, was
declared fit for service.

Her
first trip was from Southampton to Rouen on 23rd February with 685 troops and 12
officers aboard after which she was regularly in service ferrying troops to and
from Le Havre, Rouen, Boulogne, Calais, Dunkerque, Southampton, Dover,
Folkestone, Cowes and Felixstowe.

Unusual diversions from her staple trooping included, on 13th March 1915,
conveying 569 German prisoners of war, who had been captured at Neuve Chapelle,
from Rouen to Southampton under guard from 75 men and 2 officers of the Border
Regiment. On 13th August 1915 sailing from Dover to Dunkerque with 119 officers
and men of the then recently formed Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) together with
their cargo of six small aeroplanes including one which was credited with
shooting down the first Zeppelin. And sailing from Dover to Cowes on 20th April
1916 to transport a two and a half ton double engined seaplane with a wingspan
of 100ft and two more, on 12th July 1916, from Cowes to Felixstowe.

On
31st August 1918 the Golden Eagle was ordered to London to be
Commissioned and fitted out for a new role as a minelayer but by the time she
was ready the Armistice had been signed so she reverted to her previous
occupation as troop transport on 4th December 1918 running between Folkestone
and the French ports for another year until decommissioned in November 1919.

Overall during her war service she carried 618,101 troops covering a distance of
32,140 miles during which she consumed 12,839 tons of coal. Amongst those she
carried were 6,329 Chinamen, 6,000 USA troops, 2,794 British repatriated
prisoners of war and 3,998 hospital patients. There is not a record of the
number of troops she took out but did not bring back.

One
thing which surprised me in this list of statistics was the 6,329 Chinamen.
Chinamen? What were Chinamen doing being sent on the Golden Eagle to the
battle front? Well my initial thought that perhaps they had some special role in
the laundry section turns out to be well short of the mark. Digging (so to speak!) further I
have discovered that the Chinese Labour Corps (CLR) were sent to war with picks
and shovels rather than rifles to play a major role in digging trenches,
building fortifications, maintaining fighting vehicles and
repairing roads, railways and bridges often under enemy fire. Around 95,000
Chinese farm labourers were recruited from their remote villages in China into
the CLR to work for Britain during the war from 1916 after escalating losses of
British troops led to a dearth of labourers to do the spade work at the front.
The Chinese travelled across the Pacific to Canada by sea, over that country on
sealed trains to avoid paying any landing dues and then across the Atlantic to
Britain from where they were shipped off from Folkestone to France and Belgium
where they were housed in labour camps and put to work ten hour days, seven days
a week.

When the war was over and
other men had gone home the Chinese continued their efforts until 1920 clearing
the battlefields and burying the dead in the newly built cemeteries. Their
contribution was barely recognised at the end of the war. There is no tribute to
them on any British war memorial and they have no descendants in the UK as they
were refused any right to settle after the war. They have truly been described
as the "forgotten of the forgotten".

After
the war the Golden Eagle returned to her previous incarnation moving happy holiday makers and
day trippers down the Thames from London to Margate and Ramsgate and, apart from
further escapades during the Second World War during which she was an Auxiliary
Anti-Aircraft Vessel (pictured above), continued to do so right up to
1951.